Gibson's one of the best doughnuts? Old news

A wide variety of donuts are seen behind the glass at Gibson's Donuts at 760 Mount Moriah Road, which just made Thrillists' list of the 31 Best Donut Shops in the country.(Photo: Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo

Gibson's Donuts is one of the 31 Best Donut Shops in the country, to no one's surprise. Tennessee has two shops on the Thrillist list just released, including Fox's Donut Den in Nashville. Click here for the full list.

"There are so many of these list and so many people know about us now that we're going to get in there more than the average doughnut shop," said Gibson's owner Don DeWeese, who in 1996 purchased the place that bears the original owner's name.

"And without question, we are better than the average doughnut shop."

He credits his triple-rise process as the key to making his doughnuts particularly good, and the attention he's gotten from food celebrity Alton Brown for his national name recognition.

Brown first tried Gibson's, 760 Mt. Moriah Road, when he was in town for a show at the Orpheum about four or five years ago. He was smitten, posts about them from time to time on social media, and declared them to be some of the best food in the country.

"He was interviewed and they asked him the best food in America, not the best doughnut in America, and he named Gibson's Donuts and a Chinese pizza shop named Fong's in Des Moines, Iowa," DeWeese said.

As for the popularity of doughnuts in general, DeWeese has a simple explanation for that.

"Everyone wants a warm doughnut in their hand. It just makes you feel good."